


And He came down to earth

by Rei_Rei (anti60ne)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-18
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-26 23:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/971317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anti60ne/pseuds/Rei_Rei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Suho/Chen, mentions of Kai/Luhan; ~3200w; PG-13</p><p>Jongdae finds a statue and Chanyeol is an irreverent ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And He came down to earth

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Other People's Gods](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/27653) by Naomi Alderman. 



Jongdae found Him in an inconspicuous boutique, just around the corner of the flea market. He wouldn't have noticed it, hidden in between a flower shop and a bookstore, if not for the drapes that hung across the windows in the color of a young flamingo. 

He didn't like pink, but he tended to be curious about a lot of things, including things he didn't feel strongly for, or things he had never seen before.

Jongdae pushed open the door with caution. The wind chimes jingled noisily above him, and he heard a lackluster greeting from the counter. Or what must have been a counter, though it was just a boy with a doll face sitting behind a glass case full of trinkets, head perched upon idled hands. The boy paid him no mind, so Jongdae took the liberty to walk further in, eyes roaming over the surroundings. Shelves of worn paperbacks from centuries ago, early editions of Dickens and Austen. Cases of bohemian bracelets, marble rings, and pendants in outlandish colors and shapes. Drapes of shawls and throws made from unknown types of woven fabric. Everything looked used, aged, or just well-preserved.

Except for this porcelain statue that stood next to the piles of ceramic bowls. It had limbs of a man, torso of a horse, and legs of an elephant. Jongdae wasn't sure if the face looked human. He decided it looked like a god. 

He couldn't stop staring at it, the face. The large eyes were soft and warm, radiating benevolence and patience. The nose stood prominent, exuding sovereignty and power. The mouth quirked slightly upward at the corners, a smile that seemed to say,  _Come to me, and I shall give you what you wish for._

Jongdae stroked the figurine on the side, front, and back. It was about the size of half a trophy. He pondered. Chanyeol would have hated it. 

 

He approached the doll-faced boy, cradling the statue in his arms. The boy looked up when Jongdae set the item on the glass.

 

"I'll take this."

 

 

 

"What the fuck is that  _thing_?!"

 

Chanyeol gaped at the statue when he came home and saw it standing proudly in the center of the coffee table.

 

"Hey, watch your language. It could be blasphemy." Jongdae sat on the floor, cross-legged, examining his new purchase.

"Blasphemy? What, is this a... Whatchamacallit,  _idol_?" 

Jongdae shrugged. He was about to find that out himself.

"Well, whatever. It's your money. Just make sure it stays in your room, alright? I don't want those creepy eyes watching me when I'm playing games." Chanyeol squinted at the statue's face and exaggerated a shudder. 

Jongdae wanted to correct him,  _H_ _e,_ not  _it_. But Chanyeol already turned around and stalked into his room. The statue stared at him, and he stared back.

 

"Well, that was Chanyeol. Don't mind him, he's just a jerk. Now let's get you settled in, shan't we?"

 

 

Jongdae cleaned out a space on the wider part of the windowsill, moving the cactus plant to a corner of his desk. The cactus didn't need light, anyway. Neither did statues, Chanyeol would have argued, but Jongdae still wanted it,  _H_ _im_ , by the window. It turned out that Jongdae had made the right choice, because it was easier to pray to the god when He stood above and looked over him.

Jongdae began to pray to the porcelain figurine nightly. He asked for health, for protection, for happiness, the generic prayers people utter just for the heck of it. Then his prayers became more frequent and diverse. 

A quick prayer for Him to help him make the bus because he had overslept his alarm. Later, he caught the bus just before it began to pull away from the stop. 

He held his hands together and knelt the night before a big presentation at work. The next morning, he felt confident and prepared, breaths steadied and head poised, and he earned praises and pats on the back after he delivered the proposal. 

His little cousin was discharged from the hospital after he had prayed eagerly for her high fever. 

Chanyeol aced his interview and then later got the job he wanted after Jongdae prayed for Him to give his flat mate strength, wisdom, and poise (even though he was mean to Him, but surely gods forgave readily and understood human flaws).

Days later, Jongdae prayed to the statue about anything and everything. He believed that the god would listen to his prayers, even if they were about the littlest things. And Jongdae worshiped Him, thanking Him for answering his prayers, revering Him for being all-knowing and all-powerful. Jongdae saw Him as  _his_  god, and treated Him as such.

 

 

In another realm, two gods sat side by side, observing the world underneath. Specifically, they were watching Jongdae and Chanyeol bickering over how many eggs to put into the pot of ramen. Kris chuckled.

"I could never get bored of how amusing humans are."

Suho silently agreed. His eyes were trained on the shorter man who threw in an extra egg when Chanyeol turned his back, smirking to himself.

Kris peered at Suho from the side.

"You're doing an awful lot for this one."

"What do you mean?" Suho tried to hide his fluster, but he knew that Kris could tell, that he had made Chanyeol turn around so Jongdae could sneak in an additional egg. Even though Jongdae didn't even pray for it to happen. 

 

Suho was a guardian. That was his primary function as a god. Not to bestow wisdom and strength, not to alleviate pain and sickness, and certainly not to open ways for banalities like sneaking in a cooking ingredient. He was supposed to protect his worshipers from worldly calamities, traumas like bullying and abuse, and occasionally, demons that had escaped from the underworld.

 

Kris tossed him a stern look, warning Suho that he should stop giving so much, much more than what was required of him as a god of protection. 

 

There was a reason that gods required the act of worship to put their power to use; humans needed to somewhat work for having their wishes granted. The gods had long abandoned the ideal of humans yearning for a relationship with them, though only then could the full potential of a deity be realized and the well-being of a human consummated. But humans didn't care for a relationship with something they couldn't see, hear, or touch. They just wanted the things they prayed for. And over time, the gods conceded, but established a rule for the realm - man must pray for his wishes to be granted. He must worship and treat his god as a ruler over his life, not an overindulging parent who would indiscriminately provide what was asked of Him.

But that was what Suho was doing. He was giving Jongdae both things he asked for and things he just wanted but didn't verbalized in the form of prayer. He was giving indiscriminately.

 

"You're playing with fire, Suho." Kris had said to him once, worried for his friend who was walking very closely to the line of banishment should the Council ever find out. And they would, eventually. They were gods, too, after all, and nothing could escape the gods.

 

Suho knew. He knew the risks and the consequences. But he couldn't help it. Not when Jongdae prayed to him for the first time, beautiful eyes boring into his, and not when Jongdae caressed his head and told him about his day with enthusiasm, trivial and mundane details that Suho had never cared for before. He took great delight in watching Jongdae going about his day from dawn to dusk, saying a quick prayer as he rose, and then a more lengthy one before he went to bed. 

Suho enjoyed the bedtime prayers the most; it was then that Jongdae recounted his day, mentioning events that stuck out, some of them pleasant, some upsetting, and some were more like mental notes to self. It wasn't so much the content of what Jongdae shared, but the emotions Suho saw playing aross Jongdae's face, a face that had pressed deep prints into Him. That was His favorite part. 

Throughout the day, Suho watched over Jongdae waiting for the bus, bustling between meetings and conference calls. Suho watched him pore over the restaurant menu on the wall, head cocked to the side as he tried to decide what to order. He watched Jongdae laugh when a coworker shared a joke, eyes disappearing into crescents. He watched him frown and  mutter a swear when the handle of the pan burned his hand. Then at the end of the day, He watched Jongdae drift to sleep in the peace that He made possible.

He watched over Jongdae, and He enjoyed doing so. But at some point, it didn't seem enough. Suho wanted more, things He couldn't do from being confined by the statue, His mold. He wanted to be able to hug Jongdae when he was saddened by tragedies in other parts of the world, his big heart aching for strangers half a globe across. He wanted to be able to verbally reassure Jongdae when the man worried incessantly for things out of his control, as shown in repetitive prayers. He wanted to be able to laugh with Jongdae, to cry with him, to offer him a shoulder and warm arms, a shelter of substance, of flesh. He wanted to be able to kis-

 

The thought blindsided Suho and dismay struck him in the face.

 

He was in love with a human.

 

 

There was another rule in the realm, one that existed millennia before the rule about human worship. 

If a god or goddess were to fall in love with a human, he or she has two choices. The could either surrender their worshiper to another god, or be exiled from the realm and sent into the world of flesh and blood. 

There had been only one instance that a god relinquished his divinity to be with a human. However, the Council was wise and clairvoyant, knowing that history would repeat itself. 

 

And it did.

 

 

When Suho consulted Kris, Kris took him to the edge of the realm, and told a story.

 

"Once upon a time, there was a god called Kai. He was the god that held the most diverse of powers - music, beauty, athleticism, and time control. He was a god that other gods envied. But one day, he fell in love with one of his many worshipers, Luhan. He held the boy in adoration, so much so that he felt less of a god when he reached out of his mold and touched Luhan. So he told the Council - he didn't ask for their permission, he merely informed them - that he was going to leave the realm and become one of mankind. He wanted to be with Luhan, in the flesh."

Kris steered Suho for his vision to zoom in on a particular home. Through the open window, Suho saw two men in the kitchen. The shorter, auburn-haired one was ladling the soup, while the taller one with skin the color of dark caramel rested his chin on the other's shoulder, arms loosely encasing the other's waist. They looked happy, content, like they were home in each other's warmth.

"That's them. Kai and Luhan." 

Suho twisted around and widened his eyes at Kris, who just shrugged.

"Kai knew what he wanted, and he went for it. Do you know what you want?"

Suho mulled over the question.

 

He wanted to be able to  _be there_  for Jongdae in such a way that Jongdae was aware. He wanted to be real to Jongdae. Real and palpable,  _like a human_.

 

Suho had a choice to make.

 

Jongdae woke the next morning feeling strangely tired, as if he had been tossing and turning the night before. But he couldn't remember doing such a thing. He vaguely recalled a dream, but the details had already blurred upon awakening, pushed back into the layers of his subconscious. 

He stretched out a yawn and rolled off the bed. He washed up quickly and stood a good minute in front of his closet, deliberating which tie to wear. He had an offsite vendor meeting to attend later. Would maroon make him appear flashy or mature? Or maybe he should go with midnight blue? Blue was always a safe color. He raised the two ties to his shoulders, side by side, and turned around toward the window. 

"God, help me decide which-"

The prayer died in his throat when he saw the vacancy on the windowsill. The figurine wasn't there. 

 

His god had vanished.

 

 

Jongdae couldn't concentrate at all at work that day. He lost track of time and almost forgot about his vendor meeting. He barely fielded all the questions without looking like half of his mind was absent. He scoured his memory on the bus ride home and tried to figure out how and where the figurine  would disappear to. He couldn't think of a rational reason. The last he had seen the statue was the night before, on the windowsill, where it had been for the past weeks. 

When he leapt off the bus at his stop, breaking into a sprint, Jongdae concluded that Chanyeol had stolen his idol.

 

"Where is it?"

\- was the first thing Jongdae said after he shut the door behind him, kicking dress shoes off to the side. Chanyeol was sprawled across the sofa with a manga perched on his chest. He frowned as he lowered the book.

"Are you talking to me?"

Jongdae squinted at his flat mate, visibly peeved. 

"Well I can't be talking to my statue now that it's  _gone_ , can I?"

"It is?" Chanyeol feigned concern and resisted the urge to prop the book back up straight.

"Don't play dumb, Chanyeol. I know you took it and probably tossed it somewhere." Jongdae huffed as he stalked toward the sofa, slapping the taller man's calves.

"And why would I do that?" Chanyeol looked offended.

"Because you hate Him?"

Chanyeol scoffed. "First of all, I don't  _hate_  it-him."  _I just think he looks creepy,_ Chanyeol added in his head. " Second, what would I get out of trashing the thing? You'd obviously kill me." Jongdae did look rather murderous at the moment. 

Chanyeol was right. Jongdae slumped backward into the cushion and heaved a pathetic sigh. Chanyeol looked at him and thought his friend looked like his pet had just died. On some level, the sentiments were roughly the same.

"It's okay, dude. We'll find you another one." Chanyeol patted Jongdae on the shoulder in a feeble attempt to cheer him up. Jongdae did not find that consoling. Not one bit.

 

Suho was  _his_  god. No one could replace Him. 

 

 

Being the good friend that he was, Chanyeol ignored Jongdae's protest and took him to the flea market when weekend came around, searching for a replacement. Jongdae didn't want a replacement, but he couldn't deny the fact that his statue did go missing mysteriously, and there was no getting it back. They hopped from one boutique to another, but nothing caught Jongdae's eye.

 

"Oh hey, what about the shop where you got it-sorry,  _him_ -from? Maybe they'll have something similar." 

"That was the smartest thing you said all day."

 

The boutique was easy to find; the flagrant pink still drooped down the windows. Jongdae felt nostalgia wash over him when he entered the shop and heard the jingles above his head. The same doll-faced boy sat behind the counter. His eyes widened when he recognized Jongdae. Jongdae nodded at the boy, who offered a friendly smile this time.

Jongdae quickly decided that Chanyeol was, after all, useless when the taller man began flirting with the doll-faced boy and conveniently forgot why he was there in the first place. Jongdae trudged through the store, hands brushing over here and there mindlessly, looking at the queer collection of items but not seeing. 

He felt something solid ram into his chest and winced.

 

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Jongdae squeezed out a reply. He raised his eyes, a hand still rubbing the spot where the cardboard box hit him. The other guy stared at him, and he stared back.

 

Jongdae thought he looked oddly familiar. His brows scrunched as he studied the face, trying to remember where he had seen it. Then the stranger spoke, interrupting his thoughts.

 

"Hi, I'm Suho."

 

Jongdae looked at the outstretched hand before him, then up at the face adorned by a disarming smile. There was that feeling again, the feeling that he had seen this smile somewhere before. Everything about this Suho felt strangely familiar, but not eerily so. 

 

"I'm Jongdae," he heard himself say, his hand extending itself to grasp Suho's.

 

_I know_ , Suho thought as he shook Jongdae's hand, holding on to it a little longer than he should.

 

 

Jongdae emerged from the back of the boutique moments later, laughing at something Suho said. Chanyeol stopped talking to the doll-faced boy (whom he had discovered, rather disappointedly, to be already taken) and eyed Jongdae - and then Suho - suspiciously.

"Did you find something you like?"

"No, not really." Jongdae paused. He felt Suho's eyes on him. "But it's okay."  _I'm done looking for now_ , he wanted to say, but he didn't want to jinx himself. There was something about Suho that distracted Jongdae from mourning over the loss of his statue.

The doll-faced boy looked from Suho to Jongdae, then back to Suho, lingering gaze questioning under quirked brows. He cleared his throat.

"Chanyeol was just telling me how you lost a statue that you had purchased from us." The boy spoke, words directed at Jongdae but eyes fixated on Suho. Suho didn't seem to mind; he knew the meaning behind the boy's gaze, even though he no longer had the power to read minds.

"Yeah, something like that happened."

"Apparently Luhan had the same thing happen to him too," Chanyeol piped up.

 

Luhan was looking at Jongdae now. There was something deep in his doe-like eyes, Jongdae thought. Like he was trying to say something beyond words. But Luhan said nothing. Not with his mouth.

 

Suho had to leave to run errands for the boutique. Jongdae joked if he was going to get more statues like the one he had lost. Suho held his eyes for a moment long enough to be meaningful, but too short for Jongdae to read anything into it. He wouldn't, of course. _Not yet._  

It wasn't until Suho left did Jongdae remember he had left no contact information. He felt a tinge of regret as he watched Suho drive away in the van.

"Will I see you again?" Jongdae mumbled, minutes too late.

"You will." 

Jongdae whipped around to the voice, so full of certainty. It was Luhan. His eyes were doing that  _thing_  again, brimming with words unsaid.

"How do you know?"

Luhan smiled. Then he waved to someone behind Jongdae, the smile widening into a full-fledged grin. 

 

"The same reason you knew you didn't need another statue."

 

Jongdae watched Luhan break into strides past him, bewildered. He turned and saw Luhan talking animatedly with a tall man, almost as tall as Chanyeol, with skin the color of dark caramel. His eyes twinkled in amusement as they drifted to Jongdae, a knowing smile tugging at his full lips.

 

That was when it suddenly hit Jongdae, where he had seen Suho's face. It seemed unreal, but _right_ at the same time. He was now positive that he needn't another god to grant his wishes, for they had come true in the form of man.

 

 

_Come to me, and I shall be all you've ever wished for._


End file.
